Baltimore blogger gets first solo show in New York with 'Glittering Generalities'

Posted 12.30.09 by MICA Media Relations

NEW YORK--The Randall Scott Gallery's (111 Front Street #204, Brooklyn) first exhibition of the new year will be a solo show of works by MICA adjunct professor Cara Ober '05 (M.F.A. in Studio Art). Ober, who teaches in the Summer Low-Residency M.F.A. in Studio Art (MFAST) program, layers drawing, painting and printmaking into mixed media works that reinterpret sentimental imagery. The show, Glittering Generalities, takes place Jan. 7-Feb. 13 with an artist reception from 6-8:30 p.m. Jan. 7.

Ober combines culturally mediated imagery from children's schoolbooks, home décor, historical texts and greeting cards to explore notions of authenticity, appropriation, personal identity and vocabulary. Rather than illustrating the text, the images create discord, layering metaphorical and nonsensical outcomes over personal notation. While painterly gesture alternately reveals and conceals Ober's imagery, uniting disparate elements into a palimpsest where memory and commentary merge into a visual diary.

Ober teaches art at MICA, Towson University and Johns Hopkins University, and she writes art reviews for various art publications, such as Art US Magazine, Art Papers, Gutter Magazine and her own local art blog, bmoreart.blogspot.com.

Founded in 1826, Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA) is the oldest continuously degree-granting college of art and design in the nation. The College enrolls nearly 3,500 undergraduate, graduate and continuing studies students from 49 states and 65 countries in fine arts, design, electronic media, art education, liberal arts, and professional studies degree and non-credit programs. With art and design programs ranked in the top ten by U.S. News and World Report, MICA is pioneering interdisciplinary approaches to innovation, research, and community and social engagement. Alumni and programming reach around the globe, even as MICA remains a cultural cornerstone in the Baltimore/Washington region, hosting hundreds of exhibitions and events annually by students, faculty and other established artists.